9 Cook County Sheriff Employees Could Be Fired After Alleged Courthouse Inmate Sex Assault

MARKHAM, IL -- Nine Cook County Sheriff’s employees are facing termination after an alleged sexual assault occurred on their watch in the detainees’ lockup area at the Markham Courthouse. Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said that an investigation into a possible protocol breach has determined that the employees allowed the sexual assault of a female detainee by two male detainees to happen, when all three reportedly ended up in the same holding cell together. Male and female detainees are kept separate from each other.

A 52-year-old female has charged that on May 2 while in the holding area at the Sixth Municipal District Courthouse in Markham she was assaulted by two male detainees. According to news reports, the cell where the male detainees were being held did not have a toilet. The detainees, identified as Hamidullah Tribble, 21 and Nelson Drake, 23, reportedly gained access to the women’s cell by asking a Cook County Sheriff’s Deputy if they could use the toilet inside.

During a bond hearing, prosecutors said that Tribble was the first to sexually assault the woman. When he finished, he asked the sheriff’s deputy to let him out and return him to his cell, Southtown reported. The woman was crying alone when Drake is said to have entered the cell and sexually assault her a second time. Afterward, a witness said he saw both detainees “high five” each other, prosecutors said. The two later allegedly claimed to a deputy that the 52-year-old woman “came on to them.” Sexual assault examinations performed on the three at separate hospitals, later determined that the men had sexual contact with the woman, prosecutors said.

The day of the alleged assault, both men had been brought to the courthouse in Markham earlier that morning for hearings on their separate, unrelated cases. Tribble is being held on $100,000 bail on charges unrelated to the sexually assault case for aggravated kidnapping of a child, possession of a stolen motor vehicle and and unlawful restraint.

Drake is being held on a first degree murder charge, and a separate case of attempted murder, armed robbery, aggravated discharge of a weapon and aggravated unlawful restraint. Both were charged with criminal sexual assault connected to the woman.

CBS News Chicago reported that five sheriff’s employees, two deputies, two sergeants and a lieutenant who were on duty in the courtroom at the time of the alleged courthouse sex assault. All were assigned new posts while the internal investigation was underway.

Dart said in a news release that his office continues to cooperate with the ongoing criminal investigation that the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office. The sheriff’s office has also reached “in principle” an out-of-court settlement of all claims with the woman for $3.25 million. Since the purported sex assault, the sheriff’s office says it has implemented a series of reforms to ensure the protection of all detainees, including sheriff’s deputies assigned to any area of the courthouse to wear body cameras. Additional trained supervisors were added to the Markham Courthouse as well as unannounced security audits at all courthouses.